When America’s military landed in Iraq in 2003, their first concern was securing the Oil fields and the Oil Ministry. The thought never occurred to the Generals evidently that the birthplace of humankind’s history was right under their noses in the museums of Iraq and the archaeological digs that still existed.

The plundering of the archaeological sites is a travesty that, to be sure, should be blamed on the Iraqi’s themselves. But with the country unable to sustain its inhabitant’s, the archaeologists themselves are digging through the ancient cities, destroying thousands of priceless jars, bottles and other artifacts in their search for gold and other treasures. Robert Fisk has a great write-up in the IHT about the systematic destruction of the dig sites. His words are dripping with sorrow as he describes what is taking place:

2,000-year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty Ur of the Chaldees cracking under the strain of massive troop movements, the privatization of looting as landlords buy up the remaining sites of ancient Mesopotamia to strip them of their artifacts and wealth. The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilization – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation.

The American military is part of the problem as well, setting up bases within sensitive areas that are deemed militarily important..with no regard to the area’s historical value. We are talking about places that are thousands of years old. Trained archaeologists were meticulously unearthing artifacts from these areas when Saddam was in power. Now, tanks rumble over the precious ground..and what ever lies underneath is most likely being destroyed.

World-renowned Lebanese archaeologist Joanne Farchakh has done an extensive study on the museum and archaeological site lootings. Her report will be published in December. She graciously spoke to Mr. Fisk about his IHT article and the state of the remaining artifacts both in the ground and under the control of the Iraqi’s. A couple of her statements as to the degree of looting and destruction:

"There are 10,000 archaeological sites in the country. In the Nassariyah area alone, there are about 840 Sumerian sites; they have all been systematically looted. Even when Alexander the Great destroyed a city, he would always build another. But now the robbers are destroying everything because they are going down to bedrock. What's new is that the looters are becoming more and more organized with, apparently, lots of money.

"Quite apart from this, military operations are damaging these sites forever. There's been a US base in Ur for five years and the walls are cracking because of the weight of military vehicles. It's like putting an archaeological site under a continuous earthquake."

The biggest loss, site-wise, has been in the ancient city of Ur. From Wiki, we get this basic information on the importance of the area; Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the mouth (at the time) of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu. It is considered to be one of the earliest known civilizations in world history. Because of marine regression, the remains are now well inland in present-day Iraq, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, and named Tell el-Mukayyar, near the city of Nasiriyah south of Baghdad. Ur is even mentioned in the Bible in the book of Genesis.

One of Ur’s big archaeological claims is the existence of cuneiform, Sumerian writings, on the walls and on huge tablets of clay/sand. It also features in the works of Arab historians and geographers where its name is Qamirnah, The City of the Moon. This city came into existence in 4000 BC my dear reader. The inhabitants of this ancient city invented the principles of irrigation, developed agriculture and metalworking. Fifteen hundred years later – in what has become known as "the age of the deluge" – Ur produced some of the first examples of writing, seal inscriptions and construction. In neighboring Larsa, baked clay bricks were used as money orders – the world's first checks – the depth of finger indentations in the clay marking the amount of money to be transferred. The royal tombs of Ur contained jewelry, daggers, gold, azurite cylindrical seals and sometimes the remains of slaves.

Air strikes and bombing’s also destroyed important archaeological regions. At least seven historical sites have been used in this way by US and coalition forces since April 2003, one of them being the historical heart of Samarra, where the Askari shrine built by Nasr al Din Shah was bombed in 2006.

According to Fisk’s article..this activity is “a breach of the Hague Convention and Protocol of 1954 (chapter 1, article 5) which covers periods of occupation; although the US did not ratify the Convention, Italy, Poland, Australia and Holland, all of whom sent forces to Iraq, are contracting parties.”

Its hard to blame the farmers and indigenous people for plundering the history of man and womankind..afterall, they are just trying to make a living the only way left to them since America occupied their country. A cylinder seal, a sculpture or a cuneiform tablet earns $50 and that's half the monthly salary of an average government employee in Iraq..if they can get such a job.

But at the end of the day, it’s hard to rationalize destroying the history of civilization, even if it’s to feed your family. The people that need to be ferreted out and arrested are the rich collectors who are taking advantage of the Iraqi people that plunder the sites looking for specific requests made by these millionaire collectors. The archaeologists say a continually growing number of Internet sites offer Mesopotamian artifacts, objects anywhere up to 7,000 years old. What, if anything, is being done to nail these bastards selling our history? Make no mistake..its our history..the history of every human being my dear reader.

Ms Farchakh adds: "The longer Iraq finds itself in a state of war, the more the cradle of civilization is threatened. It may not even last for our grandchildren to learn from."

For an excellent read on the looting of the Iraq museum’s read this Guardian article about US marine Matthew Bogdano’s quest to get the treasures back. He spent two years of his life attempting to right the wrongs and returned “more than 5,000 artworks, including unique pieces from the first fluttering of civilization”. His trek took him from the sands of Mesopotamia to Madison Ave in NYC. Mr. Bogdano’s is a Greek-American classics scholar and a New York prosecutor. God bless him for his work to save the history of humanity.